Circular knitting machine

ABSTRACT

A circular hosiery knitting machine in which the toe is closed by twisting on the machine. The stocking is knitted in the normal direction, starting with an inturned double welt in the usual manner. Going into the toe, heavier yarns are introduced with circular knitting using two feeds, and loops are transferred onto the dial jack and held during subsequent knitting of the toe, with the needles alternately knitting and welting during knitting of the toe portion. At the completion of the toe knitting, the dial is allowed to rotate one revolution with respect to the body to introduce a twist between the dial loops and the needles. After the twisting has been done, the loops are transferred onto the needles and knitted in, after which additional fabric courses defining a tab are knitted with an anti-ravel structure, and the stocking is pressed off.

United States Patent 1 3,685,321 Millar [451 Aug. 22, 1972 [54] CIRCULARKNITTING MACHINE OTHER PUBLlCATlONS ntor: John J. Mi ar, a NH TheHosiery Trade Journal, Vol. 75, No. 892, April [73] Assignee: Scott &Williams, lnc., Laconia, 1968 147 NH. Primary Examiner--Wm. CarterReynolds [22] Filed: Aug. 15, 1968 Attorney-McNenny, Farrington, Pearneand Gordon [21] Appl. No.: 752,937 ABSTRACT 52 US. Cl. ..66/95, 66/173,66/187 fi f g 9 9' g g a i 51 Int. Cl. ..D04b 9/54, D04b 9/56 twstmg F 1T 6 [58] Field of Search 66/41 173 185 I86 187 knitted m the normaldirection, starting with an in- 66/48 51 turned double welt in the usualmanner. Going into the toe, heavier yarns are introduced with circularknitting using two feeds, and loops are transferred [56] References cuedonto the dial jack and held during-subsequent knitting UNITED STATESPATENTS of lthe toie, withktheneedlfes haltemately lcnittinAg arlld weting unng nittmg o t e toe portion. t t e 686,956 11/1901 Steber..66/187 completion of the toe knitting the dial is allowed to 1,045,62011/1912 Scott ..66/ 173 rotate one revolution with respect to the bodyto 1,282,958 10/19 l 8 SCOtt ..66/41 troduce a twist between the dialloops and the needles 2,223,808 12/1940 Rambo ..66/41 X After the i ghas been done the loops are trans 2,747,390 5/ 1956 Reymes-Cole ..66/173ferred Onto the needles and knitted in, after which 3,221,522 12/1965Nebel ..66/185 ditional fabric Courses defining a tab are knitted with3,279,220 10/1966 Reyrfes'cole "66/187 an anti-rave] structure, and thestocking is pressed off; 3,340,706 9/1967 Currier ..66/26 3,367,145 2/1968 Peel et al. ..66/48 3 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures ZZZ 2Z0 .45

PATENTED M1322 I972 saw u 0F 5 INVENTOR. JOf/A/ J M444? PATENT'ED M1922I972 SHEET 5 OF 5 M NW HAN WILL Illil WMHX I X IH Q WU M MI I M 9INVENTOR.

J0fi/A/ J M/44Aw CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONThis invention relates generally to circular hosiery knitting machinesand more particularly to circular hosiery knitting machines in which thetoe is closed on the machine by constricting folded plies of the fabricand knitting the courses together again to lock the plies in position.

Stockings of this general type and the machinery and methods for makingsuch stockings are described in US. Pats. of J. A. Currier, No.3,327,500, dated June 27, 1967, and No. 3,340,706 dated Sept. 12, 1967.As described in these patents, a stocking is knitted toe first in thereverse of the usual direction with an intumed welt being formed towardthe end of the knitting. Because the stocking is made up on the toe, thetransfer of the toe fabric after twisting produces a smooth fabric inthe normal manner of welt turning. However, in knitting in the reversedirection, after the welt has been turned, knitting must be continuedand terminated in the form of a tab or projecting band of knittedmaterial which may be made run-resistant either by the knitting ofrun-resistant courses or by other treatment such as fusing of the yarns.According to these patents, the resultant tab is located in the loweredge of the welt leaving the toe portions free of any projectingportions of the fabric.

Also, knitting from the toe allows the toe fabric, being of relativelysmall diameter in the finished stocking, to be made up on less than thefull number of needles. Thus, the fabric bulk at the toe is greatlyreduced on a 400 needle machine by making up only half or 200 of theneedles and using only this many needles for knitting the toe fabric ofboth portions or plies of the double layer material in the toe. Justprior to toe closing and transfer the remaining needles are brought intoaction and knitting of the stocking continued on the full number ofneedles. This has been recognized advantageous in reducing the bulk ofthe fabric while allowing the use of relatively heavier denier yarn toprovide the necessary strength and snag resistance required in the toearea. Thus, these heavyyams are used for all except for the coursesconstructed together at the very center of the closing of the toe wherea lower denier yarn may be used since the fabric is not particularlysubject to wear at this point.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has as its principalobject the provision of methods and apparatus for knitting hosieryhaving a closure of the toe by constriction of the fabric in which thestocking may be knitted in the normal direction with the stocking beingmade up at the welt and terminated after closing of the toe whileproviding a considerable reduction in the bulk of the toe fabric.

Another object of this invention is to provide in closed toe hosiery asset forth in the preceding objects a fabric construction in the closedtoe portion in which the number of fabric loops per course are reducedwithout any drop stitches and knitting continues on all needles.

Another object of this invention is to provide closed toe hosiery and amethod of knitting such hosiery as set forth in the preceding object inwhich the projecting tab is located in the toe portion of the stockingrather than in the welt portion.

Still another object of this invention is to provide in closed toehosiery as set forth in the preceding objects a reduced bulk fabricconstruction which has an optimum strength with a minimized tendency torun either in the toe fabric or to allow the start of runs into theremainder of the stocking.

Briefly, the foregoing and other and additional objects of thisinvention are attained by having all of the needles alternately knit andwelt throughout the toe fabric. In a two-feed machine with needleselection at each feed, one group of alternate needles receives yarn atthe first feed position with the intervening needles remaining in weltposition, and after stitch formation, those needles receiving yarn atthe first-needle position remain at the welt position while the otherneedles are raised to the clear position to receive yarn and knit at thesecond feed station. With this arrangement, one by one knit and weltfabric is produced in which each course has only half as many loops asthere are needles so that each needle knits only on alternate courses.This gives a more open fabric with only half as many loops as in astandard jersey fabric and the resultant loop reduction reduces thefabric bulk without adversely affecting the construction of the fabricnecessary for proper stretch and shape. In another embodiment withneedle selection only at the main feed, alternate needles knit and weltat both feeds on one revolution of the needle cylinder and reverse thisaction on the next revolution.

F urther'features and advantages of this invention will readily becomeapparent to those skilled in the art upon an understanding of thefollowing detailed description of the preferred embodiments of thisinvention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a vertical section through the upper portion of a knittingmachine according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an inside development of the elements, in-

eluding cams, cooperating with needles and associated elements of themachine, including at the right side of the development in verticalalignment a cross-section of the needle cylinder and its associatedelements;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary vertical section showing a stocking duringknitting prior to the closing of the toe;

FIG. 4 is a vertical section similar to FIG. 3 after closing of the toeand prior to the transfer of the loops from the dial to the needles;

- FIG. 5 is a vertical section similar to FIGS. 3 and 4 after transferand just prior to press-off;

FIG. 6 is an inside development of the cams and control elements similarto FIG. 2 according to another embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 7 is a fabric diagram illustrating the stitch formation of thefabric in the closed toe according to the preferred embodiment of thisinvention; and

FIG. 8 is a fabric diagram of the toe fabric according to anotherembodiment of this invention.

Referring now to the drawings in greater detail, and in particular FIG.1, there is shown therein portions of the conventional fine gaugecircular hosiery machine used for producing ladies hosiery. While manyelements of the machine, such as cams and patterning mechanism, havebeen omitted for purposes of clarity, it will be understood that suchstructures, as well as the remaining portions of the machine, may beconventional in both structure and operation except as described indetail hereinafter.

The needle cylinder is mounted for rotation and vertical movement in theconventional manner and is provided with vertical slots on its outersurface to receive latch needles 26 having butts 27, below which arelocated intermediate jacks 28 (see FIG. 2) having butts 29. Below theintermediate jacks are the pattern jacks 31 which are of the tiltabletype for rotation about a fulcrum 32. These pattern jacks 31 have upperends 33 both for engaging the intermediate jack 28 and for cammingpurposes to rock the jack about the fulcrum 32 to tilt the lower endsoutwardly for selection in the conventional manner. At the lower end,the pattern jacks 31 have upper and lower butts 35 and 36, respectively,between which are located removable butts 38 for needle selection usingselector levers and pattern drums in the wellknown manner. It will beunderstood that the pattern mechanism and presser cams for engaging thebutts 38 are provided in the conventional manner.

Within the upper end of the needle cylinder 10 is mounted a cylinder top43. Within the cylinder top 43 is mounted an insert or liner 46 whichguides the stocking and cooperates with the takedown which may be of anyconventional type.

Also at the upper end of the needle cylinder 10 are mounted the usualsinker ring 55 carrying sinkers 56 for.both rotary and vertical movementwith the needle cylinder. The sinkers 56 are provided with. the usualbutts 57 for actuation by cams mounted within the sinker cap 59.

Directly above the needle cylinder 10 is mounted the latch ring 61. Thelatch ring is mounted on the frame of the machine in the conventionalmanner to allow it to be pivoted upward for access. In turn, the latchring 61 carries a cross bar or support 64 on which is mounted the dialand its associated mechanism as described in greater detail hereinafter.A dial cap 64 is nonrotatably mounted on the cross bar 63 within theopening of the latch ring 61 and rotatably supports the dial 66 whichrotates with the needle cylinder in the conventional manner' The dial isprovided with dial jacks or transfer elements 68 having butts 69. Itwill be understood that the dial cap 64 includes an outer cam ring 71plus selectively operable cams (not shown) for extending the dial jacksto holding and transfer positions and for withdrawing them within thedial slots.

The drive for the dial comes from the bevel gear 77 which is engaged bya pinion 88 mounted on one end of a cross shaft 89 which is rotatablyjournaled in the cross bar 63. At its other end, the cross shaft 89carries another bevel gear 91 which mesheswith a pinion 92 carried on atower shaft 94 which is rotatably joumaled in bearings carried on themachine frame and driven in timed relationship with the needle cylinder.Of course, since the latch ring 61 is movable, the gears 91 and 92 moveout of engagement when the latch ring is raised and proper indexing isprovided by index marks in the usual manner.

In order to provide a drive from the hub member 78 to the dial shaft 73,a clutch arrangement is used so that upon disengagement of the clutch,differential rotation between the cylinder and the dial can be obtained.Thus, the hub member 78 has at its upper end a radial flange 98 having asocket 99 therein. Immediately adjacent the socket 99 is a projectingfixed pin 101. The

The dial is rotatably driven by a shaft 73 which extends upward throughthe cap 64 and is rotatably journaled within the cross bar 63 bysuitable bearings 74. On the upper side of the cross bar 63 surroundingthe shaft 73 is a thrust bearing 76 interposed between the cross bar anda bevel gear 77 which is non-rotatably mounted on a hub member 78 bysuitable means such as key 79. The hub member 78 is mounted for rotationwith respect to the shaft 74 by bearings 81 and at its upper end abutsagainst another thrust bearing 82 interposed between the hub member 78and a clutch disc 83. This clutch disc 83 is drivingly connected to theshaft 73 by suitable means such as key 84 and the entire assembly ismaintained in place by nuts 86 threadedly secured on the shaft 73 tobear against the upper side of the clutch disc 83.

clutch disc 83 carries a clutch pin 103 which is axially slidable and islocated in radial alignment with the socket 99 and fixed pin 101 on theflange 98. In order to provide axial movement of the clutch pin 103, itis provided with the reduced diameter neck 104 on the end projectingbeyond the disc 83 to receive a fork 106 secured to a collar 107slidably carried on the upper end of the dial shaft 73 above the nuts86. This collar 107 is spring loaded downwardly by a helical spring 109which abuts at its upper end against an abutment member 111 secured tothe dial shaft 73 by suitable means such as set screw 1 12. The collar107 is provided with a radial flange 114 engageable on its undersidewith one arm of a bell crank 116 which is pivotally mounted on the crossbar 63 at pivot point 117. The other end of the bell crank 116 isactuated through a conventional Bowden wire 119 so that upon rotation ofthe bell crank, the collar 107 is moved upwardly and the fork 106 raisesthe clutch pin 103 out of its engagement with the socket 99. Movement ofthe clutch pin 103 a sufiicient distance to clear the pin 101 thenallows the hub member 78 to rotate without rotating the clutch disc 83.Since the hub member 78 is rotating at a constant speed, it is desirableto increase the differential rotation between the hub member 78 and theclutch disc 83 by applying a brake to the clutch disc. This isaccomplished by means of a brake plunger 121 slidably mounted in thecross bar 63 and carrying a brake shoe 122 on the end to engage theperiphery of the clutch disc 83. The brake is applied by a spring 124and is normally held out of engagement by a Bowden wire 126. Thus, whenthe differential rotation is desired, the clutch pin 103 is disengagedfrom the hub member and by applying the brake the dial in effect isslowed down as long as the clutch pin 103 is held in the disengagedposition. However, as described in greater detail hereinafter, suchdifferential rotation is only desired preferably for a singlerevolution, and therefore after there has been sufficient relativerotation that the clutch pin 103 has cleared the fixed pin 101, theclutch pin 103 is released to its lowered position where it rides on thesurface on the flange 98. This allows the rotation to continue up to afull revolution until the clutch pin 103 abuts against the fixed pin 10]and engages the socket 99 for precise positioning. Thus, the abuttingengagement between the clutch pin 103 and the fixed pin 101 willpositively prevent more than one revolution from occurring while thesocket 99 provides precise location to insure that proper timing ismaintained.

It will be understood that the foregoing mechanism is substantially thesame as that disclosed in the aforesaid US. Pat Nos. 3,327,500 and3,340,706. However, in those patents, the preferred method of closingthe toe of the stocking involved knitting the stocking in the reversedirection, starting at the toe which is made up and knitted on 200needles until knitting of the toe fabric is substantially completed. Atsuch time, the clutch mechanism is actuated to retard the dial onerevolution to introduce a constriction in the toe fabric, after whichtransfer takes place and the knitting of the stocking is continued inthe reverse direction. Thus, the stocking in knit up the leg and goesinto the welt in a reverse direction. To allow turning of the welt thedial jacks are extended to retain loops, after which the welt iscompleted and transfer takes place resulting in the formation of anannular tab of material prior to press off.

According to an important feature of the present invention, the knittingof the stocking is done in the normal direction with make-up starting atthe welt on the full number of needles, with the welt being completelyknit and the dial loops transferred to form the intumed welt. Knittingthen continues down the leg and through the heel which may be made inany way including by reciprocation or by continuous knitting downthrough the foot toward the toe. At this point, heavier yarns areintroduced and the knitting continued for a few courses. If desired,some of these courses may be knit with a non-run construction to providea barrier against runs or ravelling crossing between the toe portion andthe remainder of the stocking. After these courses have been knit, thedial jacks are extended to the make-up position to catch and retainloops for a course, after which the dial jacks are partially retractedto hold these loops and the knitting of the actual toe fabric commences.

If the fabric were knit on all the needles in a conventional mannergiving a plain jersey stitch formation, the bulk of the fabric would beexcessive unless the yarn were made so light as not to give thenecessary strength and wear resistance at this point. On the other hand,it is not possible to drop out any needles because even with thepresence of run resist barriers, the drop stitch would tend to causeruns back into the fabric of the foot.

The present invention overcomes this problem and reduces the bulk of thetoe fabric without dropping any stitches by knitting on alternateneedles with the intervening needles welting to retain their loops butaccepting no new yarn. The result of this is the formation of a fabrichaving a one by one knit and welt fabric as shown in FIG. 8 in whicheach course has half as many wales as there are needles. The details ofhow this fabric is knit can be seen most clearly from the cam diagram ofFIG. 2. Referring to these figures in greater detail, the cam layout isfor a two-feed machine having independent needle selection at each feedstation. The main feed is located at a position indicated by the mainfeed throat plate 128 and a number of yarn fingers are provided at thisthroat plate, of which only one is Since the selected pattern jacksremain in the outward shown by way of example at 129. Likewise, theauxiliary feed throat plate 131 is shown as having a typical yarn finger132. Nozzles 134 and 135 are provided at the main and auxiliary feeds todirect blasts of air in wardly against the fabric which is beingproduced,

thereby controlling its position and providing the desired tension. I

The cam and needle selection elements are shown in FIG. 2 and aregenerally conventional in arrangement except as described hereinafter.It will be understood that additional cams may be present on the machinewhich are not shown in FIG. 2 and which have been omitted for purposesof clarity since they do not function during the knitting of the toefabric as described hereinafter. The cams include a raising cam 138 toraise the needles to tuck position and a switch cam 140 to positivelylower any raised needles to a tuck position at the first needleselection station. Continuing onward around the cam zone, there is anadditional raising cam at 142 and a lowering cam 143 which interceptsonly those needles at or below tuck height to lower them before theypass underneath the reverse stitch cam 144 which has an associatedlanding cam 145. The center cam 147 serves its usual function to lowerneedles from a clear position to the tuck level before any such needlesat this position are lowered by the forward stitch cam 150 andpositioned by its associated landing cam 149. Needles at this positiontherefore remain at the welt position and at the next feed stationencounter the auxiliary stitch cams 151 and 152 and the associatedlanding cam 153 before passing on to the previously mentioned raisingcam 138. In addition, cams are provided at 155 and 156 for lowering theintermediate jacks 28 together with their associated pattern jacks afterneedle selection has taken place.

The needle selection at the main feed is initiated by the main feed jackpushout cam 158 which acts on the upper ends 33 of the pattern jacks 31to rock their lower ends outward. The jacks are then selected by meansof the cam levers 160 selected in the usual manner from a pattern drumso that the non-selected jacks are rocked back inwardly. depending uponthe selective operation of the cam levers 160 and their engagement withthe individual pattern jack butts 38.

position, the lower butts 36 are raised by contact with the jack raisingcam 161 so that the selected jacks together with their intermediatejacks and needles are raised upward from the tuck position to the clearposition so as to receive yarn at the main feed station. Where thepattern jacks are not selected and are rocked back inwardly, the lowerjack butts 36 miss the jack raising cam 161 and therefore the associatedneedles continue onward at the tuck position.

Likewise, before the auxiliary feed station, a similar selectingarrangement is provided utilizing a jack pushout cam 164 and cam levers166 which cooperate with a jack raising cam 167 to raise the selectedjacks and needles to the clear position to receive yarn at the auxiliaryfeed, while the non-selected needles remain at welt position at thisfeed station.

The paths of the needles butts are shown more clearly from the phantomline paths indicated on FIG. 2. Leaving the raising cam 138, all of theneedles butts are at the tuck position and continue there past thepattern selection at the main feed station and past the switchcam 140where the odd numbered needles are raised to clear height to follow thepath indicated at 172 while the even needles remain in tuck positionindicated at 173 until they pass the raising cam 142 where they arelowered to the welt position by the lowering cam 143 and then to theknockover position by the reverse stitch cam 144 where they remain asthey pass the main feed station. The odd needles raised to the clearheight at 172 remain in this position and pass above the reverse stitchcam 144 until they receive yarn and they are lowered by the center cam147 down to the tuck height where they contact the forward stitch cam150 which lowers them progressively to the knockover height until theyare raised back to welt height by the landing cam 149.

At this point, needle selection takes place for the auxiliary feedingstation where the selection is the'opposite of that which took place atthe main feeding station. At this point, the even needles whichpreviously were held to a welt position at the main feed station are nowraised to the clear position 177 by the action of the auxiliary jackraising cam 167 to receive yarn at the auxiliary feed station. Theseeven needles follow the path indicated at 177 where they are lowered bythe auxiliary stitch cams 151 and 152 back to a knockover position wherethey join the path of the odd needles which remained at the knockover orwelt position at 178 until they pass the landing cam 153 and are againraised to the tuck position by the raising cam 138.

The result of this stitch selection is to produce the one by one weltstitch shown in FIG. 7. Because the needles are selected so that theyknit at only one or the other of the two feed stations, depending uponwhether the needles are odd or even, only 200 stitches or loops appearon each course and the position of the stitches or loops alternates fromone course to the next. This reduction in the number of loops in thefabric results in a considerable reduction in the bulk of the fabriceven though all courses remain continuous without any drop stitches andall the needles remain in operation throughout the toe fabric.

After the toe has been completed using this fabric stitch, the stockingassumes the arrangement shown in FIG. 3. At this point, the foot fabric219 extends down from the dial jacks 68 with the toe fabric 220 forminga loop from the dial jacks to the needles 26. The clutch pin 103 is nowraised and the dial is slowed down to produce a single rotation ofrelative twist between the portions of the fabric held by the dial jacksand the portions held by the needles. This results in a constriction ofthe toe fabric around the stocking as shown at 222 in FIGS. 4 and 5 inwhich the toeis in effect inside out at this point with the fabricextending through the twisted and restricted opening. At this point, theneedle selection may be changed to knit a normal jersey stitch in whichall needles knit at each feed station and then transfer will take placein the well known manner as shown in FIG. 5, after which interlockedcourses are knit connecting the loops held on the dial jacks and thelast knit courses of toe fabric. Suitable run-resistant stitches maythen be knit prior to press-off to form a tab 224. After the stockinghas been pressed off, it is then necessary to reverse the toe by pullingthe toe fabric back through the constricted opening so that the tab 224which appeared on the outside of the stocking as shown in FIG. 5 ispulled back into the inside upon the reversal of the toe material.

In the foregoing embodiment, the invention was ap- V plied to a knittingmachine of the two-feed type with independent needle selection for eachfeed station. However, it is possible to utilize a modified embodimentof the invention in machines having a lesser number of needle selectionor patterning positions than there are feed stations and the embodimentshown in FIGS. 6 and 8 shows the invention applied to a two-feed machinewith only a single patterning or selection station for the main feed andno separate patterning or needle selection at the auxiliary feedstation.

Turning to the cam layout shown in FIG. 6, the machine is shown ashaving a main feed 181 and an auxiliary feed 182 but has a patterning orneedle selection device only for the main feed 181. It will beunderstood that the machine may have additional cams for performingother functions, and only those cams necessary for an understanding ofthe knitting to provide bulk reduction at the toe have been shown inFIG. 6. Starting from the raising cam 184 which raises the needles totuck position, the needles pass to a switch cam 185 and a lowering cam187 which is positioned to intercept only needles at tuck height tolower them to welt height while missing those needles which have beenraised to a clear position. Next is a reverse stitch cam 189 with itslanding cam 190 together with the center cam 192 and main feed forwardstitch cam 194 with its landing cam 195. For the auxiliary feed stationis provided a two-piece stitch cam formed of upper and lower cams 197and 198, respectively, and a landing cam 199.

Needle selection takes place in the usual manner by means of a jackpushout cam 201 which rocks all the pattern jacks outward at their lowerends together with cam levers 203 which by cooperation with the patternjack butts 38 rock the. non-selected pattern jacks inward at the lowerend so that the selected pattern jacks remain outward so that theirlower butts 36 rise up on the jack raising cam 205 to raise the selectedneedles to the clear position. At the auxiliary feed station no needleselection is provided, but there is additional auxiliary jack raisingcam 207 to raise the needles previously selected by the cam levers 203to the clear position for this station. With this arrangement, it willbe seen that those needles selected at the main feed station will beraised by both the jack raising cams 205 and 207 while those needlesthat are not selected will pass both the jack raising cams leaving theneedles out of action on this revolution of the needle cylinder.

The operation will be seen more clearly from the path of the needles asshown in phantom lines on FIG. 6. Starting from the raising cam 184, allneedles are raised to tuck height following the path indicated at 210until they reach the needle selection station shown by the cam levers203. At this point, the selected needles, which preferably are alternateneedles such as all odd needles, are raised to the clear position asshown at 212 to be in a position to take yarn at the main feed station.The non-selected needles follow the path indicated at 213 and theseneedles would be the alternate needles interspacing the selectedneedles, for example the even numbered needles if the odd numberedneedles were selected. These non-selected needles follow the path 213remaining at tuck height until they contact the lowering cam 187 wherethey are lowered to welt height and pass below the reverse stitch cam189 until they reach the forward stitch cam 194. The selected needles at212 remain at the clear height to receive yarn at the main feed stationand they are lowered by the center cam 192 and the forward stitch cam194 so that these needles knit while the nonselected needles have beenwelting. With all the needles then at welt height, the selected needlesare again raised by the auxiliary jack raising earn 207 to follow thepath indicated at 216 to the clear position to receive yarn at theauxiliary feed until they are lowered by the auxiliary feed switch cams197 and 198 to rejoin the path of the non-selected even numbered needleswhich have remained in the welt position following the path indicated at217.

The resultant fabric is shown in FIG. 8 where it can be seen that theneedles selected for one revolution of the needle cylinder knit at bothstations to form wales on adjacent courses while the non-selectedneedles do not knit at either station. On the next cylinder revolution,this arrangement is reversed and the previously non-selected needles arenow selected to knit at both stations while those needles which knit onthe previous revolution now welt at both feed stations. The resultantfabric as shown in FIG. 8 has a bulk considerably reduced from a jerseyknit in which all needles would take yarn at all stations and yet sinceall the needles remain knitting through the fabric, there are no dropstitches which would tend to cause runs or other weakness in the fabric.

The use of the one by one welt stitch has been shown in both embodimentssince this stitch achieves considerable reduction in the bulk of the toefabric while retaining a high degree of dimensional stability. However,other patterns of welt and knit stitches can be used to reduce bulk evenmore although this may result in some loss in the fabric properties,depending upon the type of yarn being used.

While several embodiments of this invention have been shown anddescribed in detail, it is recognized that other modifications andrearrangements can be resorted to bythose skilled in the art withoutdeparting from the scope of the invention as defined in the claims.

lclaim:

l. The method of knitting a closed toe of a stocking on a circularknitting machine having a needle cylinder, needles on said needlecylinder, a circle of transfer elements associated with the needles, andmembers cooperating therewith including needle selection means, whichmethod comprises knitting an initial number of courses of fabric tosuccessively fomi the welt, leg and foot portions with the total numberof active needles producing stitches on at least most of said initialcourses and at the completion of said initial courses forming loops onsaid transfer elements and temporarily holding said loops on saidtransfer elements, knitting the toe fabric on all of said active needlesby selecting through said needles selection means one half of saidactive needles to form a first group of alternate active needles on agiven course to hold previouslyknit loops and not acce t new yarn whilethe remaining half of said active need es form a second group ofintervening active needles and accept new yarn, and on a subsequentcourse selecting through said needle selection means said first group ofalternate needles to accept new yarn while said second group ofintervening needles holds previously knit loops and does not accept newyarn to form a low bulk toe fabric in which each course has half as manyloops as said total number of needles, knitting sufficient toe fabric toform tubular fabric plies extending from said transfer elements througha fold to said needles, prior to the completion of the knitting of saidtoe fabric radially constricting said toe fabric substantially to filland close the tubular opening defined by said toe fabric, and thereaftertransferring said loops held on said transfer elements to said toefabric and knitting said loops into said fabric on interlocked courses,knitting additional run-resistant fabric courses, and finally pressingoff the stocking from said knitting machine.

2. The method set forth in claim 1 wherein said first and second groupsof needles alternate on successive courses.

3. The method set forth in claim 1 wherein said first and second groupsof needles alternate on successive revolutions of said needle cylinder.

UNETED STATES PATENT OFFICE @ETEFECATE 0F CREQTE Patent No. 3,685,321Dated August 22, 1972 Inventor g JQhn J- Millar It is certified thaterror appears in the above-identified patent and that said LettersPatent are hereby corrected as shown below:

On the page entitled "BACKGROUND OF INVENTION"; Column 1,

line 44, change "constructed to constricted Column 3, line 39, after theword, "support", change "64" to Signed and sealed this 10th day of April1973 (SE )1 Attest:

EDWARD M.PLETCHER,JR. ROBERT GOTTSCHALK Attesting Officer Commissionerof Patents

1. The method of knitting a closed toe of a stocking on a circularknitting machine having a needle cylinder, needles on said needlecylinder, a circle of transfer elements associated with the needles, andmembers cooperating therewith including needle selection means, whichmethod comprises knitting an initial number of courses of fabric tosuccessively form the welt, leg and foot portions with the total numberof active needles producing stitches on at least most of said initialcourses and at the completion of said initial courses forming loops onsaid transfer elements and temporarily holding said loops on saidtransfer elements, knitting the toe fabric on all of said active needlEsby selecting through said needles selection means one half of saidactive needles to form a first group of alternate active needles on agiven course to hold previously knit loops and not accept new yarn whilethe remaining half of said active needles form a second group ofintervening active needles and accept new yarn, and on a subsequentcourse selecting through said needle selection means said first group ofalternate needles to accept new yarn while said second group ofintervening needles holds previously knit loops and does not accept newyarn to form a low bulk toe fabric in which each course has half as manyloops as said total number of needles, knitting sufficient toe fabric toform tubular fabric plies extending from said transfer elements througha fold to said needles, prior to the completion of the knitting of saidtoe fabric radially constricting said toe fabric substantially to filland close the tubular opening defined by said toe fabric, and thereaftertransferring said loops held on said transfer elements to said toefabric and knitting said loops into said fabric on interlocked courses,knitting additional run-resistant fabric courses, and finally pressingoff the stocking from said knitting machine.
 2. The method set forth inclaim 1 wherein said first and second groups of needles alternate onsuccessive courses.
 3. The method set forth in claim 1 wherein saidfirst and second groups of needles alternate on successive revolutionsof said needle cylinder.